cogitech wrote:
Canon wasn't able to do so, AFAIK. Their rare and expensive adapter has glass in it (albeit high quality).
Canon did two adaptors. The rare and expensive one that has glass and is compatible with only some lenses and a "macro" adaptor that had no glass and was not able to focus to infinity.
It's a shame that a company that knows how to make decent converters like Sigma, Kenko or Tamron hasn't come out with something in this space.
You can buy some FD to EOS adapters with glass on eBay for 36$ or so... However, I don't know how they perform. And yes, they will act as 1.26x teleconverters.
angeloks wrote:
You can buy some FD to EOS adapters with glass on eBay for 36$ or so... However, I don't know how they perform. And yes, they will act as 1.26x teleconverters.
Wow, lots of work and effort but I don't understand. Why not just buy a Tokina 17mm AT-X Pro. Good lens that actually works with the EOS body. I doubt if the Canon 17mm F4 is much or any better optically. A Tamron 17mm adaptall would also be easier to convert with a knock-off adaptall-EOS mount.
If I may be so bold as to guess at Jim's thought process: I assume he wanted to experiment with this very difficult conversion on a cheap lens, since the chance of ruining it was high.
Jim,
If you're still following this thread, it seems to me that your "custom ring" is the key, obviously, yet you haven't really talked about it much. Is this something you machined yourself? Do you plan to sell them?
If I may be so bold as to guess at Jim's thought process: I assume he wanted to experiment with this very difficult conversion on a cheap lens, since the chance of ruining it was high.
I have been trying my best to ruin this lens, but to no avail. In fact if I could ruin this lens, then I could use this very effective 2-piece adapter solution on a FD50L or FD85L lens, or even a FD14L or FD 24L. All of which would net a 1/2 price focal length solution against the EF equivalent.
Cableaddict wrote:
Jim,
If you're still following this thread, it seems to me that your "custom ring" is the key, obviously, yet you haven't really talked about it much. Is this something you machined yourself? Do you plan to sell them?
I have completed the conversion with the afore mentioned custom ring and a stock M42-EOS adapter. This solution requires a small lathe to machine the iintermediate ring. Shown in the photo is the ring secured to the body of the lens with the 4 original screws, making it into a M42 mount lens. The plated bronze M42-EOS adapter is very robust, unmodified, fits good and costs $5 +$5 shipping from Hong Kong. The intermediate ring is a stock M42 male thread part, anodized and had about 6mm thicknes stock that I turned down to the required thickness of about 1.5mm. I see areas of the assembly that could be optimized for strength and such in future conversions.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/2634390500_782cacda8d.jpg
Shown here is finished lens conversion with M42-EOS adapter attached. Looking at KOJI's photo of his FD 50mm 1.2 lens conversion, I noticed the body anchor points where the mount assembly screws to, are very similiar to this 17mm lens. Although, there could be variation in the bolt pattern, I am guessing the radius of the bolts are the same. This opens up the possibility of the "L" glass conversions, I mentioned above. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2634390290_6ceee5d42b.jpg
The Canon FD 17mm lens conversion is complete. There should be no issues with mirror clearance on a 5D.
In general, the performance is just average. My lens reference is the Leica 28mm Elmarit, which by the way, was used at f/2.8 to take the above photos. So, my standards are high. More to the point, is the issue of infinity focus of a camera/lens system with 2 lens groups moving relative to each other through the focus range. It would follow that there is just one infinity focus position, or at least the infinity focus position has an extremely small range of tolerance, otherwise aberations will creap in. This 17mm lens was received without verifying the focus on a Canon film body. If it was out of adjustment, then I do not have a perfect adjustment on my EOS camera. This could be the reason for the lack of sharpness, and chromic aberations I have noticed so far. Or could be, it's just not a very good lens...
Next time around, on a Canon FD 50L (or the 55 1.2 asherical), for example, I will verify infinity focus on a film body or have it CLA'd first, before converting to EOS. These are issues one should think about when adapting a lens with floating elements. The original lens register should be correct, then the adapter should be modified for infinity focus. On the other hand, a lens with just one lens assembly where all lens groups move as one assembly, then the adapter doesn't matter as long as one can adjust the lens focus within the lens itself.
This 2 piece adapter worked out quite well, mechanically. Because the machined ring was turned, and fit the circular mounting points of the lens body, concentricity was maintained between the lens and the camera body. The chromed M42-EOS adapter screws onto the ring to cover the screws and looks very finished.
The male M42 ring I used was an old part left over from another project. I have been meaning to find the order info, and I will reply. Memory was about a $35 cost.
Your option is very close. For the FD lenses, at least this one I worked on, has a screw diameter of about 52mm, so the above 52mm part may not have enough stock for the screw heads. The thickness of that part is probably close, as it needs to be between 2 and 3mm. The price is certainly agreeable.
By the way, I always wondered if the Minolta 58 1.2 has the floating elements?
StevenPA wrote:
kevincamera seems to be living in a dream world with the pricing for most of the items. Of course, if you really *need* a lens, then you know where to go because no one else is willing to pay those prices.
Here's a link to an FD 55/1.2 conversion. Looks a bit much to bother with, but a fun experiment none the less.
The FL 55mm f1.2 is very simple to convert. I converted mine to SA mount but just by changing the SA mounting plate for an EF plate it can be just as easily converted to EF mount (SA and EF share the same 44mm registration distance)
